TRUMAN CAPOTE
TRUMAN CAPOTE
30 September 1924 – 25 August 1984
Truman Capote is an American writer who is best known for writing Breakfast at Tiffany’s (1958) and In Cold Blood (1966) which is considered one of the best true crime books of all-time. He spent four years writing In Cold Blood, just after the murders of the Clutter family to the execution of the perpetrators. He was helped by his good friend and writer Harper Lee who wrote To Kill a Mockingbird (1960).
Capote was born in New Orleans, Louisiana, US, his mother was aged 17 when he was born, and he was raised by her family. Capote was a naturally gifted writer who started writing as a child, he was ‘obsessed by it.’ His neighbour was Harper Lee who used Capote as one of her fiction characters for her book. Capote became jealous of Lee’s success when her novel became a best-seller and the two drifted apart. Lee later said, ‘Truman was a psychopath’.
Truman didn’t have to wait long to have success of his own, his books became best-sellers and were turned into films. One of his books featured a suggestive photo of himself on the back, which caused controversy. Andy Warhol, 20, was intrigued and wrote letters to Capote and the two became friends and were both regular attendees at Studio 54.
Truman was in a relationship with writer Jack Dunphy and enjoyed the company of celebrities, writers, royalty, and socialites. He held the famous Black and White Ball in NYC in 1966 and was particular about who was invited and who was not. He wrote his novel, Answered Prayers based on his wealthy female friends who he called his ‘swans’. After revealing their secrets, he was pushed out of New York society – this didn’t faze him as he had already grown bored with NY.
Truman was a heavy drinker and a drug use. Capote died aged 59 in Los Angeles. The cause of his death was liver disease and drug intoxication.
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